By Jamial Dusky*
Our children should never have to fight for the most basic things: safety, learning to read and dignity. And yet, across the country, parents and community organizers are drawn into battles that school systems, districts and policymakers should have resolved long before our children set foot in a classroom. We are filling the gap to defend their right to gape, their right to an education that truly serves them collectively, and their right to a future that is not limited by a system intentionally designed to fail them.
But those of us deeply rooted in community organizing know a deeper truth: defending what is ours has never been enough. We organize to build. To build systems, schools and communities that ultimately reflect the brilliance and potential of every child.
For generations—especially Black, Brown, and underserved families—parents have been forced to do the work that systems refused to do. We built schools when the systems refused. We demand accountability when institutions ignored the brilliance of our children. And we refuse to accept that the quality of a child’s education should depend on their zip code, their race, or their access to wealth.
Today, that fight has a new front: reading, the very foundation on which all other academic and economic opportunities depend. Millions of students are leaving school without the ability to gape with mastery. Behind every statistic is a child whose access to opportunity, civic participation, and economic mobility is being taken away. Survey is not just a skill; It is access: access to knowledge, opportunities and the power to shape one’s life. And when the kids can’t gape, all the other doors start to close.
Parents experience this reality in ways that numbers can’t capture: the frustration on a child’s face during homework, the weight on a parent’s chest when progress reports don’t reflect their child’s potential, the silent fear that their brilliance is falling between the cracks. Our children are not the problem. The system is.
That’s why parents organize. That’s why the Mother or Father Vitality Collective exists: a national movement of families who refuse to accept a status quo in which millions of children are left behind. We step forward not only for our own children, but as leaders who are shaping the future of education for all.
The Learning Excellence and Fulfillment for Pattern (READ) Act gives parents something they have demanded for decades: a federal commitment to evidence-based reading instruction and true transparency when children are struggling. The law aligns federal investments with research-backed literacy practices, supports training networks, high-impact tutoring, early literacy assessments, and ensures teachers are prepared to effectively teach the science of reading. For too long, families have watched their children struggle while systems offered excuses instead of solutions. The law centers families, requiring schools to notify parents when children are struggling and outline clear intervention plans.
But legislation alone will not solve this crisis. Policies only become real when families have the power, tools and organizational strength to ensure they are implemented with urgency and integrity. That’s the heart of Nationwide Folks Union’s Children First agenda: economic security, health, safety and education are all connected. Every child deserves the resources, protections and support that allow them to thrive. Literacy is the gateway to all of this.
Community organizing reminds us that change rarely begins in the legislative chambers. It starts in living rooms, school hallways, and community gatherings where families come together to demand better. Parents have always been the first teachers. The fiercest defenders. The most constant champions of our children’s future.
We are not only defending our children from systems that do not comply. We are building the future they deserve: a future based on literacy, dignity and possibility. And when parents move forward together, we don’t just fight to defend; we fight to build.
By Jamial Dusky
(author and activist) and Nationwide Folks Union’s Mother or Father Vitality Collective.
The texts published in this section are the sole responsibility of the authors, so La Opinión does not assume responsibility for them.
